Washington Post

CIA report: Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi killing

The CIA has concluded with "high confidence" that the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Washington Post reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

The big picture: MBS has repeatedly stood by his claims that he was not involved in the murder and said he would punish those responsible. The CIA report is "the most definitive to date linking Mohammed to the operation and complicates the Trump administration’s efforts to preserve its relationship with a close ally," per the Post.

The details: Per the Post, "the CIA examined multiple sources of intelligence, including a phone call that the prince’s brother Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, had with Khashoggi. ... Khalid told Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post, that he should go to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve the documents and gave him assurances that it would be safe to do so." It is unclear whether Khalid was aware of Khashoggi's fate.

What they're saying: A spokesperson for the Saudi embassy in D.C. told the Post that Khalid and Khashoggi didn't talk about "anything related to going to Turkey... [the claims in the CIA's] purported assessment are false. We have and continue to hear various theories without seeing the primary basis for these speculations."

The U.S. has sanctioned 17 people for the killing of Khashoggi including Saudi Consul General Mohammad Alotaibi, who oversaw the Istanbul consulate, and Maher Mutreb, a senior Saudi official who allegedly coordinated the attack.

Challenges await Washington D.C. if Amazon HQ2 comes to town

Washington D.C. Photo: Visions of America/UIG via Getty Images.

A host of challenges lie ahead for the Washington D.C. area as an Amazon HQ2 finalist, as housing production has fallen behind and home prices and rents have been climbing in surrounding areas, per an analysis from the nonprofit Urban Institute.

Why it matters: Amazon CEO and owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, has clear ties to D.C. as the e-commerce giant continues to expand into new and highly regulated business areas. But if D.C. is chosen, Amazon's arrival with tens of thousands of new jobs could further clam up a slow housing trajectory.

Amazon is promising an additional 50,000 new jobs that could push a production target above 267,000, requiring a substantially higher pace of housing production above current levels, the Urban Institute said.

Housing prices have been climbing steadily since 2010, especially in Arlington County and the District of Columbia, where median sales prices now surpass $500,000, per CoreLogic Market Trends.

High-income renter households have sky-rocketed in Loudoun County and D.C. Between 2011 and 2017, rent prices in Loudoun shot up 11% and climbed 8% in D.C., according to Zillow Rent Index.

The bottom line: Similar to D.C., the housing crunch is likely to happen in many other finalist cities. Without more housing production with wider price points, "rising affordability pressures and lengthening commutes will intensify, and more households will experience hardship," the report said.